Means for preventing smudging in printing machines



Jan. I4, 1939.

A. F. WILLIAMS 1,743,258

MEANS FOR PREVENTING SMUDGING IN PRINTING MACHINES l um Filed March 30,1928

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MEANS FOR PREVENTING SMUDGING IN PRINTING MACHINES Filed March 30, 1928 .4 Sheets-Sheet 4 3mm/dot I Patented `an. 14, 1930 UN-l'zren STAT-Es ramena ortica AUGUST F. WILLIAMS, OF CLEVELAND, OI-EIO, ASSGNOR TO THE AMERICAN MULTI- GRAIH COIJIIANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO MEANS FOR PREVENTING SMDG-NG IN PRINTING MACHINES Appneation sied March ao, 192s. serial No. 265,843.

This invention relates to a rotary printing machine, and particularly such machine equipped lfor printingaddresses on envelopes, cards, etc. The machine is preferably of that type of addressing multigraph illus trated in Patents Nos. 1,625,256 and 1,627,240 issued to lmy assignee The American Multi# graph Company. Y

In the operation of machines made in accordance with the patents mentioned, it has been found that sometimes the imprint on the envelope is imperfect, a certain smudging taking place. Experimenting with various means to cure this defect, I have discovered that the 'desired result can be accomplished by interposing a flexible shield between the vaddress-carrying drum and the roller carrying the segmental platen. This shield stands normally well clear of the drum, so that there is no danger of the type 4on the drum inadvertently engaging an envelope on the far side 4of the shield. However, the shield has a suiiicient opening to enable the printing of an address. This opening is preferably only slightly longer than the maximum address lines :on :the plate and slightly shorter than the length of the platen. The plate is preferably thinner than the height of the printing lines above the address plate, and isso flexible, that it may be readily shoved forward by the platen. Thus as the, platen begins to `come into active position, it forces toward the :drum fthe envelope as a whole, and the shield thus avoids any kinking ofthe envelope or bending it about a vertical line. "lfhe shield acts as a guide for the envelope being printed, and following the printing,

the elasticity of the shield retrac'ts it to normal position. I

According -to my theory, when the shield 4is inflexible and holds back the end portions of the envelope, lthe platen forcing the intermediate 4region of the envelope' through .the shield opening tends to bow the envelope iin a Klongitudina-l arc from one end of the platen to the other so that the intermediate region of the envelope instead of resting snugly against the platen is some distance in front of it and thais coacts with the address plate without being properly backed by the platen, resulting in an occasional smudging; i Ywhile when the shield is very thin andiexlible, it may be engaged by the platen and forced forward beyond the ends of the printing lines, and thus no bowing of the envelope y .is an enlarged substantially horizontal section through the envelope platen and adjacent parts, as indicated by the line 2-27-on Fig. 1; 3 is a vertical transverse section of the machine on the plane indicated vby the line 3-3 on Fig. 2 looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 1; Fig. t is. an enlargelment of a portion of Fig. 2, with the drum in printing position; Fig. 5 is an enlargement .of the printing .platen and shield shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is an elevation of the envelope shield and adjacentparts, looking toward the platen; Fig. '7 is an elevation of the shield .looking from the envelope pocket toward the printing drum and showing the address plate on the drum behind the shield, the ribbon being omitted; Fig. 8 is a cross-section through the shield, address plate and a por'T tion of the envelope platen without the ribbon, as indicated bv the line 8--8 on Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is perspective of a portion of an address plate which may be employed in this machine.

I will first briefly describe the addressing multigraph as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. For a fuller description reference should be had to the prior patents mentioned.

As shown in the drawings, the printing machine proper comprises a rotary drum 10, mounted on a shaft 11, journalled Vin end frame plates 12 and 13 above a rollerv platen 14 mounted on a shaft 15. Gearing 16 and 17 and a suitable coupling connect the Vdrum and platen. Any suitable means is provided for rotating the drum and platen.

Mounted on the drum, may be means for printing the body of a form letter, as a blanket 2O (indicated conventionallyin Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 is a vertical trans- ,the type form. It will be seen that in the construction described, when the drum is rotated, paper fed between the drum and platen may be printed by the characters, through the ribbon. Y Y

The body of the drum adjacent one edge of the segment l0 is shown in Fig. las

'provided with a pair of longitudinal channels '30, y31 for the reception'of the removable address plate. This plate may be of the form shown conventionally at'32 in Fig. 1, having an arcuate intermediate region and depressed edge portions curled on themselves for strength, and adapted to occupy the channels 3() and 31 when it is shoved endwise intoV place. Between these channels is a portion of the drum providing a support for the intermediate portion of the'plate. The address plate, which is shown conventionally in Fig. 1, preferably has raised projections 35, Fig. 9, which carry embossed printing strips 3 Y The address plates may be inserted manually or in other manner asdesired, a different plate for each rotation. The paper may be fed manually'or automatically as desired. The drawing illustrates at 40 and 41 a pair lof feed rolls connected by gearing 43 with the platen and operating to progress the paper to the region between the 'drum and the platen. The drawing also shows an ejector roll 45 geared with the drum and coacting with a stripper spring 46, Ybut these parts are shown merely incidentally. Y The mechanism described enables the simultaneous printing of the body and address of an addressed letter through an inking rib- 'bon with comparative rapidity. Mechanism which will now be described is provided to venable the envelope to be printed from the same address on. the drum.

The envelope printing platen, designated isa segment on a rotary member 51 adgl acentthe drum, at the rear thereof on an axis parallel therewith. This segment has such arcuate extent as will coact with the address portion only of the address plate and not engage the salutation, should there be one on the plate. This platen 50 is normally idle but isarranged at the proper time to rotate in cooperation with the address plate at the same peripheral speed. To this end, the platen roller 51 is made loose on a shaft 52, and driven by a gear 54 meshing with 'the gear 17 on the drum. This platen is connectible for rotation with the gear 17 on the plate while in its same position drum. This platen is connectible for rotation with the gear 54 by a single rotation sponding grooves in the disk 61 (after the manner of an Oldham coupling), and the 4final member comprises a locking pin 65 adapted to lock the members and 62 together. This locking pin is slidably mounted in the member 60 and may engage a notch in the member 62. The clutch pin 65 is normally held withdrawn by a lever 80, which constitutes part of the detecting mechanism, which will now be described.

On the printing drum is a cam (Fig. 3) which on each rotation ofthe drum acts on a roller 72 on the end of an arm 7 3 pivoted at 74 and having a depending portion 75 to which is anchored a tension sprinO' 7 6. This arm has an overhanging lip 77 which bears against a compression spring 78, the other end of L which bears against the'arm 8O also pivoted at 74. The action of the cam accordingly is y Vto raise the roller and swing the arm 80 Y toward the drum if the armis free toV move, otherwise to compress the spring 7 8.

The arm 80 is normally held in the position shown in Fig. 3, by a latch arm which is a rock arm on la shaft 91 whichV carries another rocl arm 92 constituting a 'detecting finger. Extending between the drum and en- Vvelope platen is a suitable pocket hereinafter described, for the envelope to vbe printed. The detector finger,when no envelope is present, extends through openings Ainthe pocket as shown in Fig. 1, being held in Ythat position by the light coiled spring 95' acting on the rock shaft 91;* The finger in such position holds the latch arm 90 in the position shown in Fig. 1, to prevent the action of the arm 80. VWhenever an envelope is placed in the pocket, it swings the-,detecting finger 92` downwardly'and thus rocks the latch arm 90 free from the arm 80. f Under these circumstances when the cam 70 acts on the roller 72, the arm 80 is moved toward the drum. This withdraws the arm from the clutch pin 65 and the spring 66 forces the clutch pin into action, thus locking the platen shaft 51 to the driving pinion 52 and giving the platen 50 one complete rotation to print the address on the envelope. y

Before the printing of the envelope is completed, the cam 70 will have cleared the roller 72, and the arm 80 will have returned to the position of Fig. 1 where its beveled edge 8l will engage the collar 67 `on the clutch pin and thus lthe lclutch withdraws itself from action as the rotation is completed, stopping the driving of the platen 50.

I will now describe the pocket between the drum and envelope'platen, kin which the envelope is deposited by hand and out of which it is fed by the printing action. This pocket includes as its front member, my flexible shield heretofore mentioned.

As shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 5-8, the flexible shield .is a very thin steel plate standing in a nearly upright position, and secured at its lower end to a bottom bar 101. Adjacent its upper end the shield eX- tends loosely across the rear of a cross rod 102, above which it projects freely to constitute the front guide into the pocket. The lower portion of the flexible shield is reinforced by a stiff metal plate 103 lying along its outer face. The same screws 104 may secure the shield and reinforcing plate to the bottom bar 101. The rear plate 105 of the pocket is secured at its lower end to this bottom bar 101, and above it has ears 106 embracing a cross rod 107; above that the rear plate curves over the top of the platen as shown at- 108, and isnally anchored to a cross bar 109.

As shown `in Figs. 6 and 7, the shield 100' has two upwardly projecting tongues 111 and 112 spaced apart to leave an opening 110 between'them. The reinforcing plate 103 is located well below this opening 110. Registering holes 115 through the plate and shield provide for the passage of the detector linger 92. An opening 116 through a considerable portion ofthe rear plate 105 providesfor the travel of the segmental platen 50.

While the opening 116 through the rear plate 105'is slightly longer than the segmental platen 50, the opening 110 through the shield is of less length than the platen as appears clearly in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. y It results from this that the platenv swings freely through the rear plate but coacts with the shield through the intermediate envelope and thus forces the envelope and shield together toward the printing drum. The opening 110 in the shield is longer than the lines 36 of embossed printing strips on the address plate, but the thickness of the shield is no greater than the height of these strips. Accordingly, in printing action, the embossed strips with the ribbon, project relatively through the opening 110 of the shield instead of the envelope being bowed through the opening to meet the address plate. Accordingly, there is no bending of the envelope by the ends of the platen.

So long as the shield is of no greater thickness than the projection of the printing characters of the address plate and is flexible enough so that the platen can readily force it forwardly, it will be effective to enable 'the envelope'tocomein printing coactionjwith the type without bending the envelope transversely. As a matter of fact, I find afshield made of spring steel about seven thousandths of yan inch .in 'thickness is satisfactory.

The shield also prevents any contact of the ribbon with the portions of the envelope beyond the addressing region. I find that it is unnecessary to close the opening 110 above the platen path as the tongues 111 and 112 are effective in keeping the upper portion of the envelope from contacting with the drum.

In the operation of the machine, the envelope indicated at A in Fig. 5 is manually dropped into the pocket and rests on the bottom bar 101 and incidentally operates the detector finger 92. During the time theenvelope is being placed, the segment 50 is well back of the pocket as shown in Fig. 1, but, when the envelope platen is clutched in, this segment forces the envelope and shield forward so that the address lines can `act against the envelope through the. inking ribbon 25 which overlies the address plate. The segmental platen and the address plate travel upwardly at the same peripheral speed and thus print the envelope by rolling contact and feed it upwardly, as indicated in Fig. 5.

If there were vno front to the pocket, the envelope would be smudged by the travelling ribbon in advance of the address plate. the other hand,when the front wall of the pocket is stationary, and `has an opening through which the platen acts, the effect of the platen-fis to 'force the intermediate region of the paper through the opening in the shield, and experience shows that this action tends to bow forwardly the whole intermediate region of the envelope from one end of the platen to the other. With my thin flexible shield however, the bending .of the end portions of the envelope .is avoided and 'the smudgingeliminated. Y

As the rubber segment goes out of coaction with the address plate after the address is printed on the envelope, the momentunrof the envelope carriesit over above Ythe curved back plate `108, down whichit travels by combined action of momentum and gravity and it is discharged beyond the anchorage 109.

I claim l 1. The combination with a Lrotary printing couple, and a movable shield between them having an opening through which :the printing impression is made, there beingjpro- Vision for moving said shield toward the form carrying member and retaining it there during the impressing action.

2. In a printing machine, the combination with a rotary printing couple,vof an inter-v posed shield having an opening through which the printing impression is effected, and means whereby said shield is moved by the platen and interposed envelope toward the printing .memben 3. In a l,printing .machine,.the combination with a rotary printing member and a cooperating rotary platen, of an interposed thin flexible shield having an opening through which the printing impression is eected, said shield being movable by the platen and interposed envelope toward the printing member.

4f. The combination of a rotary printing member', a segmental form carried thereon, a segmental platen adapted to coaotwith the form, a thin liexible shield between the platen and form and having an opening through which the printing is eilected and means whereby said shield is moved by the platen and interposed envelope toward the printing member.

5. The combination oi a rotary printing` couple, of a flexible shield located between them, and having an opening through which the printing isvefected, the .platen or the couple overhanging the ends of said opening.. Y V

6. The combination ot a rotary printing couple, a iiexible shield `between them, having on opening through which the printing is etfected, said shield being anchored adjacent its'lower end, there being means for pressing the intermediate region 'of the shield toward the printing member of the couple during printing.

7. In a printing machine the combination of a rotary drum adapted to carry an address Vplate having projecting printing lines, a rorotary segmental platen mounted on a par-- allel axis, a thin flexible shield lying between them'and having an opening long enough so that the printing lines may pass through it and short enough so that the platen cannot pass through it.'

8. The combination with a rotary printing couple, of a flexible shield extending between them anchored at its bottom and havingan opening into which the printing form may project, the platen being longer than said opening. ,45

9. The combination with a printing couple having a rotary drum adapted to carry an address plate and having a cooperating segmental platen, ot a thin spring steel plate extending between the drum and platen and anchored at its lower edge and having an opening of less length than the segmental platen. f Y l0. The combination with a rotary print ing couple, of a flexible shield between them, means for anchoring the shield adjacent its bottom, and a stationarY guide rod which the shield loosely engages at its upper portion, said shield having an opening through it beneath the guiderod. Y

1l. The combination of a rotary drum, an address plate removably mounted thereon a segmental platen, a flexible shield between them anchored adjacent its bottom, and a stationar guide rod which the shield loosely engages at its upper portion on the side adjacent the drum, said shield having an opening through it beneath the guide rod, the platen extending at its ends beyond said opening.

12. Thekcombination of a printing drum, a coacting segmental platen, a pocket between them adapted to sustain an envelope resting on its lower edge, said pocket having arear plate with an opening through .which the platen may travel, and having a flexibleV front plate adapted to be forced by the platen toward the printing drinn.

13. In a printing machine, the combination of a rotary printing drum adapted to carry an address plate, a rotary .segmental platen on an axis parallel with the printing drum, a substantially upright envelope pocket between the drum and platen, said pocket comprising a bottom bar, a rear plate secured thereto and having an opening through which the platen may move, and a flexible rfront plate secured to the bottom bar and having an opening through which the printing is effected, there being provision :tor moving the ront plate toward the printing drum.

14. In an address vprinting machine, the combination with a printing member adapted to carry the form, a platen, an envelope pocket between them having an opening in one wall through which the platen may move, the,

other wall of the pocket comprising aV flexible plate having an opening and a reinforcing plate below said opening.

15. an address printing machine, Vthe combination of a rotary printing drum, an address drum having projecting printing lines, an inlring ribbon on the drum overlying the address plate, a platen adapted to coact with the address plate through the ribbon, an interposed shield between the platen and drinn, there being provision for moving said shield with the material to be printed toward the drum as the printing impression is made.

176. In an address printing machine, the combination of a rotary drum, an address plate movablymounted thereon and having projecting printing lines, an ink-ing ribbon on the drum overlying the address plate, a segmental platenon an axis parallel with the drum, a flexible shield between the drum and platen having an opening through which the printing lines and surmountingribbon may project, the segmental'platen being longer than the opening whereby it forces the material and shield toward the printing'drum..

combination of a rotary printing drum, an address plate removably carried thereon and having projecting printing lines, anV inking ribbon on the drum overlying the address plate, a segmental platen at the rear of the drum on a parallel axis, a substantially upright envelopeV pocket between the drum and platen, said pocket having a rear wall with an opening through which the platen moves l2() l?. In an address printing machine, theVr and at its front Wall having a thin flexible plate secured at its lower end and provided with an opening longer than the printing lines on the address plete and Shorter than the segmental platen.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto alix my si gnature.

AUGUST F. WILLIAMS. 

